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The ruling doesn’t mean that the Jackson hologram is in the free and clear, however. With the injunction denied, the plaintiffs won’t be able to stop Sunday’s performance, but they’ll still be able to seek damages. In a separate case, Hologram USA is suing Cirque du Soleil and MGM Resorts International for their use of a hologram during the “Michael Jackson One” show that’s currently in Vegas.

“It’s a whole new technology that we’re not really revealing the details of which, because Michael never revealed the details of his magic,” Jackson estate spokeswoman Diana Baron told PEOPLE.

Wow!

Flanked by real-life dancers, the footage of the entertainer, who died in 2009 at age 50, was not taken from a previous performance and was created specifically for the awards show.

“When [the illusion of Michael Jackson] started dancing, unbelievable,” Jackie told PEOPLE after the performance. “It took me back. If Michael was here, he would say, ‘Thumbs up!’ “

Though the Jackson hologram was new, the debate over whether or not deceased celebs should be brought back is not. The Billboard “performance” also resurrected the discussion on whether fans even want to see their favorite artists as holograms.

In 2012 a hologram of the late rapper Tupac Shakur stunned audiences at the Coachella music festival. Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley have also been reanimated, after a fashion.

The technology bringing Tupac, Sinatra back to life

At the time, National Post writer Matt Gurney argued that dead stars should be allowed to rest in peace.

“The technology is undeniably impressive,” Gurney wrote in 2012. “But Shakur is not a fictional character, owned by a studio, but a real-life human being. His work may be owned and licensed, but not his entire being. It is impossible to know how he’d have felt about being on that stage.”

The performance had the full support of the Jackson family estate. According to Billboard, brother “Jackie Jackson started to tear up as he recalled watching ‘Slave to Rhythm’ in the audience at the MGM Grand Arena.”

“When he started walking and dancing, I was teary-eyed,” Billboard reported him as saying. “It’s hard to please Michael’s fans and Michael… I’m telling you it’s amazing.”